The revolt that has seen the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad toppled opens up a period of perhaps positive possibilities but a range of great dangers too.
While its not a revolt from below, of the kind Assad brutally suppressed in 2011, the fall of statues is always a sign that real change of some kind is happening. The felled statue pictured is of Hafez, the just deposed dictator’s father.
Those who have seized power are not liberators but in toppling the existing regime they provide a chance, perhaps a limited one, and not their intention, that the forces of 2011 might gather again. That is the key point for Syrian people. If they succeed then a range of reactionary imperialist forces with other, very different, agendas, may come to regret matters. Let’s hope so
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